Blog

The Call Goes Out for Agape Community Members

Thirty-three years of co-mentoring Agape as a school for nonviolence and simple living have been a great fulfillment and joy. As the community and its co-founders age, we find that Agape needs to evolve. We are making a specific and concrete effort to find people to become community members, who have moved beyond their college years and may be interested in living in community as long-term residents.

If you read this and find yourself drawn to what we describe, give us a call or email us at the Agape homestead. It could be a life-changer.

We are open to discerning this commitment with families, and single people in their 30’s or 40’s, who would embrace the challenge and inspiration of living in a rural setting, in a Christian Community, ecumenical and interfaith in outreach and practice. Members and affiliates, attempt to practice nonviolent love, radical and sustainable living, with other flawed yet resilient people who will persevere for the long haul.

At communities like Agape, there is always a need for people to come to the vineyard for the millions of tasks with which we are engaged as we live out our lives as residents in a Christian- based community. Over the past 33 years, Agape has functioned much like a school. The majority of people who have come to Agape are in their late teens through late 20’s. They come for a defined amount of time, one week to one year, to learn and love the values of community, nonviolence and sustainable living. Not limited to this age group, many from all walks of life come specifically to experience the community’s daily and weekly rhythms, prayer, work, meals together, retreats, annual events, rural immersion and other programs and celebrations. Sabbath rest and contemplation are essential ingredients of life at Agape.

Agape has an economic base which consists of ministry as a form of livelihood and offers a predictable lifestyle honed over many years of outreach nationally and through extended community support. We grow our own food, cut wood for heat, build and maintain our residences.

Our education ministry, a source of income, is one that has embraced teachers and those in the field of nonviolent ministry. Working in the vineyard of Jesus, helping the poor, protesting war and capital punishment, XL Pipeline and all of the ecological and war-related injustices and human rights violations are facets of a sometimes difficult but wholesome life that has many rewards, not the least of which is the inspired people one meets and works with on this journey.

Events

Purchase Agape Booklet on Standing Rock Protests

413-967-9369

Please call Agape to order a copy: "Pilgrimage to Standing Rock: After 50 Years of Oppression, All we have left is Love." Please order through Agape. The cost of booklet and mailing is $5 which only covers mailing/printing. We accept contributions for future mailings. We stand with Standing Rock.

Buy “The Many Sides of Peace” by Agape Co-founder Brayton Shanley

Our new book documents 33-years of living gospel non-violence and the health of our environment.